How do Berkeley schools score on child immunizations?

“The vaccine controversy today is one of the most important public health crises we face in America.” So said Michael Willrich, associate professor of history at Brandeis University and author of the new book, Pox: An American History, speaking on NPR’s Fresh Air on April 5.

Willrich was not referring to smallpox, the subject of his book, but rather to the ongoing nationwide debate, among parents in particular, as to whether to give children immunizations, in particular the DTaP or Tdap vaccination which protects against Pertussis (whooping cough), Tetanus and Diphtheria.

Immunization rates have been steadily dropping in California and elsewhere. Those who oppose vaccinations are often concerned that the risks of perceived adverse events following immunization outweigh the benefits of preventing common diseases. Subsequently discredited research has also played a significant part in affecting attitudes to immunizations. A 1998 paper in the British medical journal The Lancet, which claimed a connection between the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism, prompted declining vaccination rates. The article’s author, Dr Andrew Wakefield, was subsequently found guilty of serious professional misconduct and, in 2011, the research was declared fraudulent in the British Medical Journal.

California is experiencing a whooping cough epidemic. In 2010, there were more cases than in any year since 1947. According to the California Department of Public Health, last year California had 9,477 cases of whooping cough, far higher than previous years, with 10 deaths. There were fewer than 1,000 cases a year in the 1970s, ’80s, ’90s and most of the 2000s. Berkeley reported 18 cases of whooping cough last year, and Alameda County as a whole had 422 cases. Continue reading…